Woohoo...I have Pluto Sphinx cats!!!

Found two cats crawling up the brickwork on my front porch late last night so I brought them inside. Since I've seen plutos, rustics and vine sphinx moths I wasn't sure what they would be...but on the internet to figure out what they were.

I'm tickled pink!!! I've found cocoons and raised those but these are the first pluto cats I found. Was able to get a few photos this morning but when I went back to check on them they've already started to pupate.

Their larval host is firebush (hamelia patens) and I have two very overgrown hedges of that lining both sides of my driveway. I didn't trim them back to a decent size because I was hoping to attract Plutos....guess it worked!!!

These buggers look scary!!!

Those are unreal! It so looks like photoshop...I had to look them up on the net myself, just couldn't believe my eyes LOL Way weird.

Here's an even weirder photo of the head --- scary!!!

The color is a bit off as I was using a flash last night when I found them.

Oh I think they are cute!!

I have hamelia patens in my garden. I wonder if those critters come to Florida.

Whee, just checked it out and they do!! Gonna go look closely at my Hamelia.

http://www.silkmoths.bizland.com/xpluto.htm

Those are great looking cats! Never seen anything like that before. I added firebush to my yard this year. I wonder if I will get any of these little guys in Florida?

I also read they use pentas as a larval host. Here's what the moth looks like.

~ Cat

...and the cocoon. I found this cocoon last year and had no idea what it would turn into...so I raised it and released a healthy pluto sphinx moth back into my yard :o)

~ Cat

Man! That is an amazing photo Cat! Such detail! Thanks for posting what the moth looks like. I was wondering. I also have lots of penta around my gardens. Do the moths just come out at night?

Tropicalkaren....If you look close to the bottom of that page you linked to you will see a notation that says
"visit Xylophanes pluto, from Edinburg, Hidalgo County, via Mike Quinn, courtesy of Cat Traylor"
- those are my photos from last year :o)

~ Cat



This message was edited Nov 5, 2006 5:51 PM

Becky...I've only seen the moths early in the morning...usually when I'm heading out the door to work. Am assuming they come out to play at night around my front mercury vapor lamp which is near the front porch and about three feet away from where the firebush hedges start. The caterpillars are supposed to feed only at night...but I've never seen any in my firebush...but then again...I'm talking about 20 to 30 feet of firebush hedges growing on both sides of my driveway. This is a photo of the firebush from 2004. I usually cut it back to about 15 inches each January but left it alone this year. It is already over six feet tall :o)

Hey Texas, you're famous!!

Checked both my Hamelia and my Penta which are next to each other but no critters :-(

Cat - Your firebush hedges are beautiful. I planted a small one this year and I thought it was dying, but I am seeing new growth at the bottom of the trunk. Probably went into shock here because of the heat. It seems to be getting established now. Hopefully it will make it because I really like the look of yours!

Karen - I wonder how many of the same moths and butterflies we get here that are also in Texas. We share the same planting zones, but perhaps not all the critters live in the southeastern and southwestern states?

oh Cat those are so cool. I have never heard of them before. Probably don't have them here

Becky,

Your firebush should do good in Florida - it withstands our 100+ temperatures out here in south Texas. We had a freeze in late 2004 and I cut them drastically back to about 10 inches. They all sprouted new growth quickly. Since it rarely freezes out here they stay green and bushy all year long.

Our little tri-county area they call the "Lower Rio Grande Valley" gets about 300 species of butterflies. Some rare strays from Mexico come over during the winter as the mountains out there get cold and they fly down seeking warmer temperatures. Am sure hoping we get the same butterflies as south Florida because I want to attract the Atala Hairstreak!!!

~ Cat

Cat - The Atala are on the endangered list here. They are just about gone from what I am hearing. Which is really too bad. They are beautiful butterflies!

LOL! Those cats are too funny!! God does have a sense of humor, doesn't He?! The moth is beautiful, but then I am partial to anything green.

I'll have to show my son these tomorrow. He'll love them!

really, really, neat

The two cats pupapted a couple of days ago :o) moved them into a bigger container and tucked them into strips of papertowels I layered in there.

~ Cat

This one looks like it's smiling while it sleeps :o) zzzzzzzzzzzzz

oh how cute

Karen - I wonder how many of the same moths and butterflies we get here that are also in Texas. We share the same planting zones, but perhaps not all the critters live in the southeastern and southwestern states?

Becky, that is a great question, but I don't have the energy to do the research (lol).

Hamelia patens is supposed to die back with frost but then reemerge in the spring.

lol...wonderful photos....nature is really quite amazing when it comes to different techniques for camouflage and intimidation. Thanks for sharing.. :)

Melanie